Saturday, February 27, 2016

I keep buying silly Adam Dunn cards. It's a sickness. Griffey too, but that is more socially acceptable.

Here's Leaf's tribute to the old Sportscaster release. These are regular size instead of giant and faux-rare. Faux-rare as in there are 15,000 versions of each, each serial numbered. These two are each out of 25. There are different colors and the little silhouette in the top right varies within each color I believe.

Did you know Adam Dunn was a Swing King? A King of Swing? So good he cracked the bat this relic was taken from, it seems.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

1978 Pepsi-Cola Superstars Tabs Dan Driessen. These came in strips about four times as long as this, but the other three-fourths is ad space, so most people cut the player portion off. Then 38 years later one of em sold it to me for a dollar.

1961 Post Vada Pinson. I somehow had the Canadian version of this card, but not the American version. No more.

1971 Fleer Laughlin World Series Reds vs. White Sox. It's often forgotten that since the Black Sox threw the Series, someone actually did need to win it. That'd be my Reds.

1960 Leaf Eddie Kasko. Not much to say about this set. I'm sure there are those who love it. I am not one.

1940 Play Ball Duke Derringer. Reds HoF from one of the better sets of all time. Noice.

Today's closer is this Johnny Vander Meer from the 1977-79 Sportscaster series. These were from multiple sports and were obtained by mail order subscription for three years. Two dozen cards every few weeks. Oh, and they're like 6" x 8". This is the first one I've seen for sale of a Red, so I had to snag it. I am happy.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Yeah, this isn't a fair fight. COMC wins every time. But I don't seem to mind, because I just keep on coming back for more.

Here's Part 1 of a sexy 98-card order, featuring people writing their names all squiggly-like on small pictures of themselves.

We'll begin with The Nooch. Noochie Varner never actually made it to the majors. His 8 year minor league career saw time with 5 different clubs (Reds twice, Tigers, Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Astros) but none gave him a shot. No matter. Nooch is a fan favorite.

Raisel Iglesias debuted in 2015 as on of 200 rookie starting pitchers we threw at the world. It looks like he's going to be a mainstay in our 2016 rotation.

Michael Lorenzen, another young arm in our rotation. I already had his auto, and I usually don't make a habit of getting more than one official auto per player, but this card was too good lookin' to pass up. Bonus: pitcher-at-the-plate.

Everyone loves Sam LeCure, After his rookie year, the Reds made him a workhorse reliever for four years, then he was sent down to AAA ball, then we had so many injuries/trades, we brought him back up, thanks in small part to Twitter, though no one would ever admit that.

Gavin LaValley spent 2014 in the Rookie League and 2015 in Single-A Dayton. He's only 21, so expect to hear from him in a few years.

Joe Oliver caught all 4 games for our 1990 World Series sweep of the A's. So I love him.

Bobby Livingston pitched 5 innings for Seattle in 2006 and started 10 games for the Reds in 2007 sandwiched among a 12 year baseball career.

Justin Towle spent 7 years in the Reds farm without making the show. But this card is great, so I bought it.

Drafted by the Reds in 2009, debuted for the Padres in 2012, led the AL in saves in 2015 for the Rays in an All Star year.

Drafted by and debuted for the Reds (8 games in 2012), then traded to the Diamondbacks, then to the Yankees as the unenviable replacement to Derek Jeter's shortstop post. I remember being sad when he left the Reds. I think I still am.